Garment.



A. E. CLARKE.

GARMENT.

APPLIUA'IION FILED 11116.2,1911.

Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

fizserrron Clarke imme/aces ALGERNON E. CLARKE, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

GARMENT.

Specification 01. Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

- Application filed August 2, 1911. Serial No. 841,930.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALoERNoN E. CLARKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michi an, have invented certain new and .useful mprovements in Garments,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in knit underwear, and especially in so called union suits, and its objects are: First, to

provide a practical and comfortable closed crotch for union undergarments. Second, to provide a means whereby the wearing qualities of the garments may be greatly in r creased in the crotch without rendering it,

heavy, thick and uncomfortable, and, th1rd, to provide a means whereby the wearer of a union suit may stoop or draw upon the shoulders of the suit, especially when per- 0 sp ring freely, without drawing upon the sult sufliciently to render the pressure at the crotch inconvenient or uncomfortable. I attain these objects by the construction and arrangement of parts shown in the accom panying drawing, in which 1 same, and Fig. 3

,by the shade Figure 1 is a back elevation of the upper portion of a suit of union underwear showin the improvement as it appears from be ind. Fi 2 is a front elevation of the shows the legs of the garment folded u on the body and extended at right angles t erewith to plainly illustrate the form and application of theportion of the im rovement at the crotch.

SimI ar letters refer to similar parts throughoutthe several views.

The body ortion A and the legs C are knit, cut and constructed the. same as all garments of this class are made, the body being opened on the line a of Fig. 1,-an d a flap B is sewed thereon upon the lines b--b"-b" so that when the button 6 is released the flap may be carried back so that the garment may be conveniently opened or closed on the line b'- -bb and a.

My improvement consists of attaching two elements to the garment, namel First, I remove a part of the fabric from the crotch, of ra'ctically the form indicated (f triangle in Fig. 3, and fill this space with a double thickness of very elastic, fabric, as D, that is so placed that it may be. stretched laterally, or in'the direc- .tion of the arrows in Fig. 3, sufliciently tc nearly or quite double the width of the of the fabric averts all fabric. The back or base line of this fabric is stitched directly alon the line of stitching 0 c of the legs, an the point at is arranged to pass forward through the crotch toa position just below the folding plait F in the front of the garment. This fabric is suflicientl elastic so that it will readily adjust itsel to the osition of the legs of the wearer, thus, if tlib wearer finds it necessary to raise the foot and leg to an elevated position, the elasticit of the fabric will cause it to readily ad ust itself to the position without danger'of pressing upon the partsand injurin or eatly inconveniencmg the wearer. o', a so, when bendin at the hips this fabric will so adjust itsel? by stretching in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 3 that no inconvenience whatever will be experienced by reason of the ri 'dity of the fabric, or of the presence o several thicknesses of fabric, as is the case with all open crotches, and with allclosed crotches so far roduced. The elasticity of the fabric is pro uc ed in the weaving, ence there is no danger of rotting rubber elastic, and the life of this ortion of the garment is greatly prolonged fbr the reason that the elasticity possibility of rubbing, chafing and wearin which must re sult from the use of rigid or firm-knitted goods.

Second, it is a well known fact that if the wearer of union underwear stoops considerably at the shoulders, especially if .he straightens and stoops frequently and suddenly and whenperspiring freely, the garment will be drawn closely at the crotch and will become very uncomfortable to the wearer of closed crotch garments. To avert this difiiculty I place narrow strips of very elastic'fabric, as E, between the edges of the garment fabricat the shoulders which, like the piece D, are arranged to stretch the narrow way only, so that when the wearer is in a stooping position, or in the act of stooping, the draw upon the garment will' stretch said fabric sufliciently so that no strain will be felt at the crotch. While this element is not an absolute necessity to carry out the objects of my invention, it does, certainly, act as a most desirable auxiliary to the crotch iece D to avert the danger of drawing t e fabric too closely against'the parts especially, as stated, when the [wearer is stooping forward or makes flap by the button I) to the line a. This any sudden forward movement with the body.

In Fig. 3 0 represents the outline of the patch D of fabric as it is attached to the back of the garment, asclearly shown in Fig. 1; and c", in Fig. 1, represents a continuation of the seam 0 0' under the flap B so as to give proper form to the body of the garment and at the same time have .a full double fold from the point of securing the line of stitching is not absolutely necessary, and has no connection with my invention, simply being introduced to add-to the symmetry of the garment. Nor do I claim the flap B as essentially my invention, as such flaps are in common use both .upon garments having open crotches and those-haw ing closed crotches.

While the iece D should, to be abso lutely practical, be made of triangular form, as shown in Fig. 3, it. is not absolutely necessary to confine it to 'suchform as'other forms may be used with reasonably good" results, though with any other form there islikely to be a surplusage of fabric at some point that will render the garment uncomfortable under certain conditions,

hence I greatly; prefer the use of the triangular piece, as shown.

"What I claim as new, and desire to secure 7 ment having an opening in the back extending to the crotch, a a

p stitched to the garment at one side of the opening in the back and arranged to extend across the back and be buttoned to the opposite side of the garment with the lower edge of said flap secured at the' crotch of the garment, a second flap stitched to the opposite side of the garment and extending under the first named flap, 'an elastic knit fabric extending well up in the front of the garment and extending down the leg seams forming a laterally elastic closed crotch that is firmly sewed to the front of the garment, to the leg seams and to the lower edges of the flaps,substantially as shown and described. Signed at Grand Rapids Michigan July 29, '1911.- a a.

ALGERNON -E. CLARKE.

In presence ofi FRED W. Forums,

I. J. CILLEY. 

